EP Plenary Session Newsletter 1-4 February 2016

26-01-2016

What will MEPs be working on during next week's Plenary Session in Strasbourg? Highlights include:
-Refugee crisis, border control and Schengen rules
-ECB annual report
-Financing refugee facilities in Turkey
-Women's rights and gender equality
-EU platform against undeclared work
-Humanitarian situation in Yemen
-Preparation Summit 18-19 February

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Debate on refugees, border checks and the future of Schengen

MEPs will discuss the refugee crisis and border checks, both at EU external borders and within the Schengen passport-free area, with Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans on Tuesday afternoon. The European Commission warned on 27 January that passport checks might be reintroduced for up to two years if Greece does not solve some “serious deficiencies” in the management of its external border.

The Schengen borders code, which governs the functioning of the passport-free area, requires the Commission and the member states concerned to inform the European Parliament and the Council as soon as possible of any reasons that may lead to the temporary reintroduction of border checks.

MEPs will also discuss the respect for the international principle of non-refoulement.

Irish MEPs on this issue: Deirdre Clune, Fine Gael (South)

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Pre-summit debate: migration and UK’s EU referendum

MEPs will air their views on migration and the UK’s upcoming in-or-out EU referendum in a Wednesday morning debate ahead of the European Council summit on 18 and 19 February. Contributors to the debate will include European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Dutch Minister for Foreign Affairs Bert Koenders, on behalf of the Dutch Council Presidency.

Irish MEPs on this issue: Deirdre Clune, Fine Gael (South)

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EU Commission to present corporate tax proposals

Tax Commissioner Pierre Moscovici will present the Commission’s latest corporate tax proposals in the plenary session on Tuesday morning. They include a draft Council directive to counter base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS), which follows up the OECD action plan for corporate taxation.

Mr Moscovici promised MEPs at a 12 January parliamentary hearing that he would present an “ambitious anti-tax avoidance package” by the end of the month. But he also warned MEPs at the Tax Rulings II Special Committee hearing that the Council of Ministers might find it difficult to agree on ambitious measures, as unanimity is the rule for taxation and some member states were showing resistance.

MEPs set to quiz ECB President Mario Draghi in plenary debate on Monday

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi will be in Strasbourg on Monday afternoon for a debate with MEPs on the Bank's annual report for 2014.

MEPs are likely to ask Mr Draghi about the "modest impact" of - and risks associated with - the bank's assets purchase programme (APP), also known as quantitative easing, which has not yet led to the desired inflation rate of close to but below 2% or to a smaller gap between the lending rates granted to SMEs and bigger firms respectively. They will call for prudence and underline that monetary policy cannot resolve fiscal and economic problems and should not substitute for necessary structural reforms.

In a response to the Bank's 2014 report, voted in the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee on Monday 25 January, MEPs also called for a "thorough assessment" of the ECB's role in the Commission/ECB/IMF “Troika” so as to clarify the Bank's responsibilities for approving and implementing bailout programmes like that in Greece. They underline the need for a clear separation of the ECB's role as a bank supervisor on the one hand and a monetary policy maker on the other, and underline the need for democratic accountability for this new supervisory role.

Parliament to set out its demands for trade in services deal (TiSA)

Talks on a Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA), with countries representing 70% of world trade in services, should give EU firms more opportunities to provide services, such as transport and telecoms, in third countries. At the same time, EU public services and audiovisual services should not be opened up to competition, say MEPs in draft recommendations to be debated on Monday and voted on Wednesday.

In their draft recommendations to the European Commission, which is negotiating the deal on behalf of the EU, MEPs want to ensure that the TiSA deal does not prevent EU and member states’ authorities from making laws in the public interest, notably on labour and data protection. The text, drafted by Viviane Reding (EPP, LU) also reiterates that the European Parliament will have the final say on whether to approve or reject a TiSA deal.

Background

Negotiations for a Trade in Services Agreement, under way since April 2013, aim to enhance international rules in sectors such as financial, digital and transport services. Participants now include 23 WTO Members, who together account for 70% of global trade in services.

Barriers to EU service providers’ market access, if translated into equivalent tariffs, amount to 15 % for Canada, 16 % for Japan, 25 % for South Korea, 44 % for Turkey and 68 % for China, whereas in the EU, the tariff equivalent of service supply restrictions for foreign operators is only 6 %.

The EU is the world’s largest exporter of services, accounting for 25% of the world total. Services employ close to 70% of the EU labour force and represent 40% of the value of goods exported from Europe.

Irish MEPs on this issue: Seán Kelly, Fine Gael (South)

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Vote on objection to new diesel car emission limits

A proposal to veto a draft decision to raise diesel car emission limits for nitrogen oxides (NOx) by up to 110% when the long-awaited Real Driving Emissions (RDE) test procedure is introduced will be put to a vote on Wednesday. The Environment Committee argues that Parliament should veto plans to relax the limits because this would undermine the enforcement of existing EU standards. The issue was debated during the January plenary session.

Meanwhile, in a parallel response to Parliament's pressure, on Wednesday 27 January the European Commission proposed a new law on the approval and market surveillance of motor vehicles, in the light of the Volkswagen scandal, into which MEPs set up a 45-strong inquiry committee (EMIS).

Real Drive Emissions

As part of a package to introduce the RDE test procedure, endorsed by EU member states in the Technical Committee for Motor Vehicles (TCMV) on 28 October, the European Commission proposed to raise car NOx emission limits by up to 110% for new models by September 2017, and for new vehicles by September 2019.

In a second step, this discrepancy is to be brought down to 50%, taking account of technical margins of error, by January 2020 for all new models (and by January 2021 for all new vehicles).

The new RDE procedure is designed to make emission tests more realistic by using a portable device to do them on the road. The current laboratory-based procedure suffers from various loopholes which carmakers exploit to brand their products as cleaner than they really are.

“Market economy” status for China: what will the EU do?

A debate on whether the EU should recognize China as a “market economy” will be held on Monday afternoon with trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström. MEPs are concerned that the European Parliament, which would have to co-decide on any changes needed in EU law, should the EU decide to treat China as a market economy, has yet to be consulted.

MEPs will ask the Commission what options it is considering with regard to China’s proposed market economy status (MES) and whether it will assess their likely impact on EU industry and jobs.

Background

When China joined the World trade organization (WTO) in 2001, WTO members recognised that it had not yet completed the transition a market economy. China agreed to a number of obligations to move towards becoming a market economy, and agreed that the other WTO members could apply “non-market economy” measures to its exports. In practice, this often meant higher anti-dumping duties.

China considers that the 2001 WTO accession protocol stipulates that its transition to a market economy after 11 December 2016 will be automatic. This interpretation of the accession protocol is being politically and legally debated. However, a few WTO members, such as Australia, have already recognized China as market economy in their law.

China currently meets only one of the EU’s five technical criteria for defining a “market economy”. China is targeted in about 80% of EU antidumping and anti-subsidy investigations.

New €3bn Refugee Facility in Turkey: questions on funding

Questions about €3 billion in funding from EU and national budgets for a proposed facility to support Syrian refugees in Turkey are to be raised in a joint debate on migration issues on Tuesday afternoon. MEPs may ask the European Commission where the EU budget share is supposed to come from, howmuch individual member states have pledged so far, and how it can be ensured that the money will be effectively channelled to meet refugees’ needs.

The Refugee Facility for Turkey, launched by the Commission on 24 November 2015, is a coordination mechanism designed to help Turkey to cope with the consequences of the refugee influx. The funding is supposed to be composed of €500 million from the EU budget and €2.5 billion in contributions from the member states. MEPs are also expected to ask the Commission to confirm this distribution.

MEPs delegation to assess the situation in Turkey

Delegations from the Committee on Budgets and the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs will travel to Turkey on 8-11 February to check on the ground the situation of refugees, including those not living in camps. The MEPs, led by Jean Arthuis (ALDE,FR), Chair of the Budgets committee, and Sylvie Guillaume (S&D, FR), member of the Civil Liberties committee, will try to assess the cooperation between Turkey and the EU in the context of the migration crisis. They plan to meet in Ankara with ministers in charge of migration-related issues, as well as with representatives of the Turkish Parliament and civil society.

MEPs to call for zero tolerance of violence against women

Following recent attacks on women in Cologne (Germany) and elsewhere in the EU, MEPs will debate the issue of sexual harassment and violence against women in public spaces on Tuesday evening. In a debate on Wednesday, MEPs will ask the EU Commission and the Council what steps they plan to take to prevent gender-based violence against women in the EU. A resolution to be voted on Wednesday will urge the Commission to deliver a "New Strategy for Gender Equality and Women's Rights post 2015".

MEPs are likely to reiterate their call for an EU directive on combating violence against women, as requested by Parliament in 2014. They claim that little progress has been made in eliminating violence against women and call on EU member states to ratify the Istanbul Convention as soon as possible. Sixteen out of 28 member states have yet to ratify it. ( this numbers I need to double check).

Parliament called for a new post 2015 strategy on gender equality and women’s rights in its resolution of 9 June 2015. So far, the Commission has presented only a staff working document, which has no inter-institutional value.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Debate: Tuesday, 2 and Wednesday, 3 February

Vote: Wednesday. 3 February

Procedure: Oral question to Commission with resolution; Council and Commission statement

Estonia’s President Toomas Hendrik Ilves to address Parliament

President Ilves will deliver his address at a formal plenary sitting of Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday at 12.00. Mr IIves was elected President in September 2006 and took the oath of office on 9 October 2006. Before his election, he served as a Member of European Parliament from 2004 to 2006. This will be his second formal address to Parliament as President. The first was given in March 2008

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari to address Parliament

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari will deliver a formal address to MEPs in plenary session on Wednesday at 12.00. This will be his first visit to the European Parliament since he was elected President in May 2015.

Nigeria’s population has repeatedly suffered terrorist attacks by Boko Haram since 2009. The Nigerian armed Islamist group has claimed more than 20,000 dead in Nigeria and some 2.1 million people have been forced from their homes in north-eastern Nigeria, according to European Commission figures.

EU platform against undeclared work

Plans to establish a “European platform” to enhance cooperation in combating undeclared work will be debated and put to a vote on Tuesday. The platform would facilitate information exchange and enhance cooperation among EU member states' ministries of labour, trade unions and employers' associations about how best to tackle a problem that is damaging the EU economy and distorting the labour market. The undeclared economy accounts for 18% of EU GDP.

“Undeclared work” generally means any paid activity that is lawful in nature, but not declared to public authorities such as tax offices or labour inspectorates. The platform should encourage practical, effective and efficient cross-border actions (Article 3.1.c /AM 52) and develop a reliable and efficient system of rapid information exchange between national bodies. (Art. 4.1.f /AM 54)

However, it would neither interfere with member states' own actions, nor seek to harmonise their rules, says the draft resolution, which notes that relevant definitions and regulatory systems differ from one EU country to the next.

The long-term goal is to help improve working conditions, curb social security fraud and integrate undeclared workers into labour market. The platform would deal with all forms of undeclared work, including bogus self-employment and letter box companies.

Irish MEPs on this issue: Lynn Boylan, Sinn Féin (Dublin)

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Endocrine disruptors: debate with the European Commission

MEPs will discuss how best to reduce exposure to endocrine disruptors – substances that can cause hormonal disorders and some cancers - with Health Commissioner Vitenis Andriukaitis on Tuesday. The European Court of Justice recently ruled that the Commission had breached EU law by failing to publish scientific criteria for defining them, as a first step towards reducing exposure. MEPs have repeatedly urged the EU to clamp down on the substances.

In a March 2013 resolution, the European Parliament called on the Commission to act to reduce exposure to endocrine disruptors, which have been linked to recent increases in cases of impaired sperm quality, early onset of puberty, certain cancers and other disorders.

Objections to three GM soybean authorisations

The EU Commission should withdraw its authorisations of the use of glyphosate-tolerant GM soybeans in food and feed, say three objections to be put to a vote on Wednesday. The Environment Committee texts stress that glyphosate, a herbicide, is classified as “probably carcinogenic” by the World Health Organisation (WHO), and that GMOs are being authorized in the EU without the support of member states.

A separate EU law that would enable any EU member state to restrict or prohibit the sale and use of EU-approved GMO food or feed on its territory was rejected by Parliament in October. MEPs are concerned that this law might prove unworkable or that it could lead to the reintroduction of border checks between pro- and anti-GMO countries. They called on the Commission to table a new proposal.

Fatal clinical trial in France: debate with the Commission

Lessons to be a learned from a clinical trial in France that left one participant dead and others with severe health problems will be debated with the European Commission on Tuesday. A new EU legal framework for clinical trials comes into force this year.

Under new legislation, agreed by Parliament and the Council in 2014, which overhauls the EU regime for clinical trials, pharmaceutical companies and academic researchers will be obliged to upload the results of all their clinical trials in the EU to a publicly accessible database, in order to boost transparency.

The drug tested in the French trial was designed to treat anxiety and motor disorders associated with Parkinson’s disease, and chronic pain in people with cancer and other conditions.

Debate on developments in Haiti, Libya and Venezuela with Federica Mogherini

MEPs are to debate electoral process in Haiti, Libya’s recently-nominated unity government and transition to democracy, and Venezuela’s politics and declaration of an “economic emergency” with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Wednesday afternoon.

The electoral process in Haiti will be the first topic that MEPs debate with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Wednesday afternoon. On 22 January the second round of presidential and some legislative elections were deferred, for security reasons, just two days before voters were due to go to the polls. Ms Mogherini has called on all political players to refrain from violence and complete without further delay the electoral process begun in August 2015.

The setting up of the new unity government under a United Nations plan in Libya is seen as an essential step towards implementing the Libya Political Agreement. The newly- established single Government of National Accord and national institutions, are to guide Libya through its post-revolution transition and put it back on the path to building a democratic, peaceful, stable and prosperous country.

A resolution on the situation in Libya will be voted on Thursday 4 February.

MEPs will also debate political and economic developments in Venezuela with Ms Mogherini. Venezuela, which has the largest oil reserves in the world, is particularly hard hit by the steep fall in oil prices over the past 18 months. On 16 January, as Venezuela’s inflation rate hit 141%, its President Nicolas Maduro proposed decreeing a sixty-day "economic state of emergency". But the Venezuelan Parliament, which has had a strong opposition majority since parliamentary elections in December 2015, rejected this proposal on Friday 22 January.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Debate: Wednesday, 3 February

Vote: Thursday, 4 February (Libya)

Procedure: Statements by the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy

MEPs to call for action to protect religious minorities against ISIS

MEPs will urge the EU Commission to take urgent action to counter the systematic mass murder of religious minorities by the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) or Daesh, in a resolution to be voted on Thursday. The text wraps up a 20 January debate with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, in which many MEPs called for measures to protect all religious and minority groups against ISIS attacks.

In this resolution MEPs might also call on the EU to recognise ISIS atrocities against religious minorities as genocide.

MEPs to call for more effort to help Yemen

Parliament will set out its stance on the humanitarian situation in Yemen in a resolution to be voted on Thursday. In a debate with Dutch foreign affairs minister Bert Koenders on 20 January, many MEPs called on EU member states and the international community to put every effort into tackling the humanitarian, security and political crisis in Yemen, which escalated almost a year ago.

Humanitarian organisations estimate that 21 million Yemeni people (82% of the total population) are in need of humanitarian assistance, and 14 million are suffering from food insecurity or are in need of health care.

Irish MEPs on this issue: Seán Kelly, Fine Gael (South)

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Funding criteria for EU islands that face permanent handicaps

MEPs will ask the European Commission to provide a clear definition of the kind of permanent natural or demographic handicaps that EU islands face and to state its view on the idea of taking account of other indicators, besides GDP, when deciding on the funding criteria for such areas. MEPs will debate and vote on a resolution on Thursday.

MEPs will table an oral question to the Commission asking whether it would consider "other indicators besides GDP which go beyond measuring economic production and take into account islands’ specificities, such as the regional competitiveness index, with a view to better reflecting the economic and social vulnerability arising from the natural permanent handicaps faced by such regions.”

In a separate debate and vote on Thursday MEPs will quiz the Commission on what concrete support it is planning to give to regional and local authorities in order to strengthen their role and impact on the management of the European Structural and Investment Funds over the 2014-2020 period.

Serbia and Kosovo: 2015 progress reports on EU integration

Parliament will debate the 2015 reform efforts of Serbia and Kosovo with Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn on Wednesday. It is likely to welcome progress made in normalising relations between Serbia and Kosovo, and to note that these relations would be helped if all EU member states were to recognise Kosovo. MEPs are also likely to flag areas that are lagging behind in the reform process, such as the rule of law, freedom of expression and fighting corruption.